No, catholics just have differing opinions. I think all things can't be cross referenced. For example, if I said, I hate Catholics cause they killed people. You can't just go ahead and say, "Well Christian killed thousands of people in the promise land." They aren't in context, one was from God, one the pope wanted to keep his authority imo.

problem is, god usually relays his "kill em all" commands through a human intermediary, like a pope or a joshua. the average soldier gets their order from a human, supposedly following god's orders. how could someone tell the difference between god wanting killing done relayed via man, and man wanting killing done claiming it's god?

if you think killing is fine when god commands it, I hope you dont hear voices

All of that stuff is man made, nothing more. Unfortunately, with the advent of religion much of our far more valuable innate spirituality within us is seldom developed to full potentials. Don't confuse God with religion, or having anything to do with any one of them except for our own individual spirituality which can in fact exist and thrive in each of us without following such non-sense.

Sincerely investigate any of these three short quotes as new concepts and you've taken your first step into a larger world:

"I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness..." - Max Planck. "Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real" - Neils Bohr. "What we call physical things and events do not exist independently of subjective experience..." - Deepak Chopra.

Each of these three rabbit holes go deep, ending up in the same place.

No, catholics just have differing opinions. I think all things can't be cross referenced. For example, if I said, I hate Catholics cause they killed people. You can't just go ahead and say, "Well Christian killed thousands of people in the promise land." They aren't in context, one was from God, one the pope wanted to keep his authority imo.

@Teej-Also no it's not a white religion, it was for jews and gentiles, then the jews screwed it up saying Jesus never rose from the dead and crap like that.

OK, for perspective...

1) Catholics are like a branch of Christianity, more like the trunk essentially....they started it.

IE: Every word of "The Bible" that you read or have ever read, was from them.

If you doubt them, and who they are, and what they have done in the name of god (Which includes the bible), you must apply the same doubt to the bible.

2) In Islam, there are different branches too. Not all Muslims have the same beliefs. When a terrorist who believes in one branch of Islam does something violent, it doesn't mean that other Muslims who are not terrorists also do something violent.

It would be like people in the Middle East saying they would avoid Christians because of the terrorism that started in the Crusades, etc....and you saying, hey, wait, that wasn't MY branch of Christianity!

And them saying "But you are a Christian, and so were the Crusaders!"

YOU are "A Christian" to them, the same way THEY are all "Muslim" to YOU.

There are Sunnis and Shi'ites, and Sufis, and even the Nation of Islam.

Within those groups are further sub-groups, just like Christians have Episcopals and Baptists and Protestants, etc.

So, most Muslims are Sunnis.

Breaking THEM Down:

Four Schools of Interpretation:

a) Hanifite -- favors use of rational judgment in determining what is best for the common good (most influential in Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Central Asia)

b) Malikite -- turns first to consensus and then to analogy in order to determine right path (most influential in North Africa, Egypt and eastern Arabia)

c) Shafi'ite -- accepts the authority of the Hadith and de-emphasizes the role of reason (most influential in Indonesia)

d) Hanbalite -- reaction against the reliance on 'opinion' in other schools; maintains that the Qur'an is the supreme authority and only the Hadith is accepted as also authoritative (dominant school in Saudi Arabia)

And so forth.

The terrorists use faith to justify political action, just as almost all other parties have over the millennia.

They make extreme interpretations of the Koran or Hadith, and, those who do not really understand their own faith, but, feel that they are devout believers, rally to whatever cause they are told they believe in.

So, to call all Muslims "Muslims" and condemn/avoid all of them because some of them ARE terrorists, is like saying all Christians are "Christians" and, perpetrated the Crusades....and must be avenged against.

To YOU the Crusades are ancient history, to terrorists, its their Alamo.

Remember, al-Qaeda, which is also known as "International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders"?

Notice the NAME of the organization references the CRUSADES?

They do that to rally the people to "Fight Back"...as they consider the Crusades as what justified their defense of Islam to start with. They add Jews because Jews are NOW more hated by those in territories they occupy than pretty much any other group....and even bigger rally cry.

YOU don't think of your self as part of the religion that attacked the Middle East and murdered Muslims in cold blood any more than the OTHER Muslims consider THEM SELVES to be a part of the terrorists attacks that killed others in cold blood.

They do a lot of lumping all things they believe in/are against, into the same category. IE: If you are an evolutionary biologist, you must also (ALSO) believe in the Big Bang, be an atheist, be evil, be homo***ual, believe in climate change, and vote democratic, etc.

BTW - On the life span issues...ancient infant and childhood mortality was typically the primary factor in bringing down life expectancies.

Add in that ancients had an interesting combination of medicines and religious rituals that they used to heal the wounded and sick, etc....and, the trend is that as we grew in knowledge, our survival rates progressively improved.

Groups that did things that worked better, survived and were more prosperous than those with less effective methods.

Death in childbirth was a last frontier for many societies though, with childhood illnesses and injuries, etc, a close second. Without a real knowledge of viruses and infection, etc...added to a child's seemingly natural proclivity to do stupid things which kill them...the death rates were always a problem for that age range.

If you made it to adulthood, and didn't get killed hunting or being hunted, a farming accident, disease or fight, etc...you were pretty much good to go...and could end up a grandparent/great grandparent, etc.

1) Catholics are like a branch of Christianity, more like the trunk essentially....they started it.

IE: Every word of "The Bible" that you read or have ever read, was from them.

If you doubt them, and who they are, and what they have done in the name of god (Which includes the bible), you must apply the same doubt to the bible.

2) In Islam, there are different branches too. Not all Muslims have the same beliefs. When a terrorist who believes in one branch of Islam does something violent, it doesn't mean that other Muslims who are not terrorists also do something violent.

It would be like people in the Middle East saying they would avoid Christians because of the terrorism that started in the Crusades, etc....and you saying, hey, wait, that wasn't MY branch of Christianity!

And them saying "But you are a Christian, and so were the Crusaders!"

YOU are "A Christian" to them, the same way THEY are all "Muslim" to YOU.

There are Sunnis and Shi'ites, and Sufis, and even the Nation of Islam.

Within those groups are further sub-groups, just like Christians have Episcopals and Baptists and Protestants, etc.

So, most Muslims are Sunnis.

Breaking THEM Down:

Four Schools of Interpretation:

a) Hanifite -- favors use of rational judgment in determining what is best for the common good (most influential in Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Central Asia)

b) Malikite -- turns first to consensus and then to analogy in order to determine right path (most influential in North Africa, Egypt and eastern Arabia)

c) Shafi'ite -- accepts the authority of the Hadith and de-emphasizes the role of reason (most influential in Indonesia)

d) Hanbalite -- reaction against the reliance on 'opinion' in other schools; maintains that the Qur'an is the supreme authority and only the Hadith is accepted as also authoritative (dominant school in Saudi Arabia)

And so forth.

The terrorists use faith to justify political action, just as almost all other parties have over the millennia.

They make extreme interpretations of the Koran or Hadith, and, those who do not really understand their own faith, but, feel that they are devout believers, rally to whatever cause they are told they believe in.

So, to call all Muslims "Muslims" and condemn/avoid all of them because some of them ARE terrorists, is like saying all Christians are "Christians" and, perpetrated the Crusades....and must be avenged against.

To YOU the Crusades are ancient history, to terrorists, its their Alamo.

Remember, al-Qaeda, which is also known as "International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders"?

Notice the NAME of the organization references the CRUSADES?

They do that to rally the people to "Fight Back"...as they consider the Crusades as what justified their defense of Islam to start with. They add Jews because Jews are NOW more hated by those in territories they occupy than pretty much any other group....and even bigger rally cry.

YOU don't think of your self as part of the religion that attacked the Middle East and murdered Muslims in cold blood any more than the OTHER Muslims consider THEM SELVES to be a part of the terrorists attacks that killed others in cold blood.

Jesus was a JEW. His "Last Supper" was the "Passover Seder". JESUS said not to change an iota of the Jewish faith, and that his followers should follow the Jewish Teachings to the letter.

The Catholic CHURCH is where the bible came from, not Jesus. "Christianity" as per Jesus, would have been "being a good Jew".

Again, THINK about where the bible came from....physically. It did not EXIST when Jesus was alive. It was written after his death, mostly a LONG TIME AFTER his death.

The history of the era indicates that he was the leader of a Jewish rebel group fighting the Romans...who was caught and executed.

Later, they came up with the idea of deflecting that rebelion by re-packaging "Jesus" and instead of a rebel fighter, he is now preaching things like "Pay even more tax than you are asked for" and "follow all laws to the letter", and "Slaves must be loyal to their masters" and "Love thine Enemies" and "Turn the Other Cheek", and so forth.

This way, Rome can control the masses. Rome = Roman Empire = Create the "Meek Jesus Mythology" = Create the VATICAN = Control world politics by having the Vatican say that this king or that king, etc, rule by "Divine Right"....and so forth throughout the rest of history to the present...or at least present enough until ENOUGH people finally said "Yeah, right, God cares who the king is", and the idea of pushing that was too ludicrous to keep up as a front.

Historically, this is quite clear.

If you are one of those STILL FOOLED by Rome, OK, fine...but don't expect anyone with an inquisitive nature and logic to agree with your mythology.

Everything you say you believe comes from the CATHOLIC CHURCH. You do not personally possess ANY documentation of what you believe, that you did not get from the church. What the church says NOW, as compared to whatever SECT of Christianity you profess to believe in, can differ, as you cherry pick what parts to keep, and what to reject...just like everyone else on the planet.

__________________“Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence."http://laserpointerforums.com/donations.htm“The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.”—Martin Luther King